Dust guard for journal box

ABSTRACT

A dust guard for a railway car journal box, in which a flexible sealing ring is set in a membrane attached to a frame and sandwiched between a pair of resilient packing members whereby the membrane floats the sealing ring free of the packing members.

United States Patent Karpuk et al.

[ 1 Nov. 25, 1975 DUST GUARD FOR JOURNAL BOX lnventors: Philip Karpuk, 59 Stirton Ave.,

Hamilton, Ontario; Philip Edward Karpuk, 75 Broadway Ave., Toronto, Ontario, both of Canada Filed: July 29, 1974 Appl. No.: 492,550

U.S. Cl. 308/361; 308/80; Fl6C/l/24 Int. Cl. F16C 1/24 Field of Search BUS/36.1, 80, 187.1;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1892 Godley 308/80 X 2.958551 ll/l96O Rogers 308/36.l 3,072.445 1/1963 Hardie 3,l40,903 7/1964 Stricklin et al. 308/36.]

Primary Examiner-John J. Love [57] ABSTRACT A dust guard for a railway car journal box, in which a flexible sealing ring is set in a membrane attached to a frame and sandwiched between a pair of resilient packing members whereby the membrane floats the sealing ring free of the packing members.

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures US. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet 1 of2 US. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet2of2 3,922,039

WNW

DUST GUARD FOR JOURNAL BOX This invention relates to a dust guard for a journal box of the type used with railway car wheel axles.

Railway car axles pass through a journal box carrying lubricating oil. Because there is some radial movement of the axle, the opening through which the axle passes much be larger than the diameter of the axle. To provide an oil and dust seal for this opening, a resilient dust guard is usually used, having an aperture defined by a sealing ring through which the axle passes in frictional contact.

The dust guard is subject to rapid wear because of the radial movement of the axle, making necessary frequent relacement of the dust guard which takes the railway car out of service.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a journal box dust guard of improved resistance to wear.

Another object of the invention is to provide a dust guard which is more easily replacable in a journal box.

In its broadest aspect the invention resides in a dust guard for a journal box, comprising a frame, a sealing ring of stiffly resilient material such as hard rubber mounted in a membrane of flexible, oil impervious material such as sheet rubber to provide a passage therethrough, the membrane being mounted on a frame and sandwiched between a pair of planar packing members of resilient material such as sponge rubber. The frame is constructed for suspension in the well of the journal box.

An example embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a dust guard;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the dust guard assembled;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the dust guard and a journal box into which the dust guard fits and a railway car axle which passes through the dust guard into the journal box; and

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of the dust guard of FIGS. 1 to 4 showing it collapsible.

The example embodiment shown in the drawings consists of a dust guard having a frame 12 which comprises a U-shaped frame element with a pair of upstanding arms 14, a bottom member 16 and an upper crossbar 18. Bottom member 16 is pivotally connected at each end to the lower ends of arms 14 by pins 17 while crossbar 18 is removably attached to the upper ends of arms 14 by bolts 19. Each arm 14 carries an inward crimp 20 intermediate its ends. A membrane 22 of flexible, oil impervious material such as sheet rubber is located in the plane of frame 12 and is fixed to the frame by a hem 23. A sealing ring 24 of stiffly resilient material such as hard rubber is located in the plane of membrane 22 to form an aperture or passage 26 therein. Sealing ring 24 is sealed circumferentially to membrane 22, preferably molded with the membrane to form an integral unit as seen particularly in FIG. 3 of the drawings. The inner surface of sealing ring 24 carries a semi-circular sealing gasket 28 concentric with the sealing ring in its lower half, the upper half of the sealing ring carrying a plurality a plurality of Parallel rows of nylon stitching 30 having a thickness substantially the same as the thickness of gasket 28.

Membrane 22, and preferably also frame 12, are sanwiched between a pair 'of planar packing members 32 formed of resilient material such as foam rubber. The upper ends of arms 14 project from between packing members 32 and sealing ring 24 projects through an aperture 34in each of the packing members. Preferably a membrane 36 covers packing members 32 to form the unitary dust guard structure shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings.

Dust guard 10 is insertable into a well 40 in ajournal box 42 and the dust guard sits in the well to have sealing ring 24 of the dust guard concentric with a pair of aperture 44 in the walls of the well but spaced inwardly from the rim of each aperture 44 to give clearance for some lateral movement of the sealing ring radially in apertures 44. An axle 48 of a railway car wheel assembly is then insertable through apertures 44 of journal box 42 and through sealing ring 24 of dust guard 10.

If well 40 of journal box 42 is inaccessible unless the journal box is dismantled, dust guard 10 is distortable as seen in FIG. 5, enabling the dust guard to be passed into the journal box through an aperture 44 in one wall of well 40. To accomplish this, crossbar 18 is detached from frame 12 and the free ends of arms 14 are passed through aperture 44 and upwardly into well 40 until dust guard 10 is entirely within the well whereupon the dust guard is dropped downwardly within the well and resumes its normal shape, the crossbar being the reattached to the frame by bolts 19. Dust guard 10 may be removed from journal box 42 in the same manner.

It will be seen that the dust guard of the present invention provides a sealing ring 24 which is not directly attached to packing members 32 associated with it in well 40 of journal box 42. Sealing ring 24, held in position by flexible membrane 22, is movable radially within the confines of the rims of apertures 44 in journal box 42. The stresses arising from the radial movement of sealing ring 24 are absorbed not by packing members 32, which would otherwise soon break the circumferential sealing engagement with the sealing ring, but by membrane 22 which is flexible for this purpose.

I claim:

1. A dust guard for a journal box, comprising:

a frame suspendable in the journal box;

a sealing ring of stiffly resilient material;

a membrane of flexible, oil impervious material mounted on the frame, the sealing ring being sealed circumferentially to the membrane in the plane thereof to provide a passage therethrough and to float within the frame; and

a pair of planar packing members of resilient material each having an aperture therein to receive the sealing ring concentrically and mounted against the membrane one on each side thereof;

the frame comprising a U-shaped element having a pair of arms and a base portion, the free ends of the arms projecting from the packing member and having a crossbar removably attached thereto to form suspension means, the base portion being pivotally connected to the arms whereby the dust guard is distortable in the plane of the membrane.

2. A dust guard as claimed in claim 1 in which the packing membrane is sponge rubber.

3. A dust guard as claimed in claim 1 in which the sealing ring is hard rubber.

4. A dust guard as claimed in claim 1 in which the membrane is sheet rubber.

5. A dust guard for a journal box. comprising:

a frame suspendable in the journal box;

a sealing ring of stiffly resilient material carrying on its inner surface a substantially semicircular concentric gasket, that semicircular portion of the sealing ring facing the gasket carrying a plurality of longitudinally disposed rows of stitching being substantially the thickness of the gasket;

a membrane of flexible, oil impervious material mounted on the frame, the sealing ring being sealed circumferentially to the membrane in the plane thereof to provide a passage therethrough and to float within the frame; and

4 a pair ofplanar packing members of resilient material each having an aperture therein to receive the sealing ring concentrically and mounted against the membrane one on each side thereof. 6. A dust guard as claimed in claim 5 in which the packing member is sponge rubber.

7. A dust guard as claimed in claim 5 in which the sealing ring is hard rubber.

8. A dust guard as claimed in claim 5 inwhich the membrane is sheet rubber.

9. A dust guard as claimed in claim 5 in which the stitching is nylon. 

1. A dust guard for a journal box, comprising: a frame suspendable in the journal box; a sealing ring of stiffly resilient material; a membrane of flexible, oil impervious material mounted on the frame, the sealing ring being sealed circumferentially to the membrane in the plane thereof to provide a passage therethrough and to float within the frame; and a pair of planar packing members of resilient material each having an aperture therein to receive the sealing ring concentrically and mounted against the membrane one on each side thereof; the frame comprising a U-shaped element having a pair of arms and a base portion, the free ends of the arms projecting from the packing member and having a crossbar removably attached thereto to form suspension means, the base portion being pivotally connected to the arms whereby the dust guard is distortable in the plane of the membrane.
 2. A dust guard as claimed in claim 1 in which the packing membrane is sponge rubber.
 3. A dust guard as claimed in claim 1 in which the sealing ring is hard rubber.
 4. A dust guard as claimed in claim 1 in which the membrane is sheet rubber.
 5. A dust guard for a journal box, comprising: a frame suspendable in the journal box; a sealing ring of stiffly resilient material carrying on its inner surface a substantially semicircular concentric gasket, that semicircular portion of the sealing ring facing the gasket carrying a plurality of longitudinally disposed rows of stitching being substantially the thickness of the gasket; a membrane of flexible, oil impervious material mounted on the frame, the sealing ring being sealed circumferentially to the membrane in the plane thereof to provide a passage therethrough and To float within the frame; and a pair of planar packing members of resilient material each having an aperture therein to receive the sealing ring concentrically and mounted against the membrane one on each side thereof.
 6. A dust guard as claimed in claim 5 in which the packing member is sponge rubber.
 7. A dust guard as claimed in claim 5 in which the sealing ring is hard rubber.
 8. A dust guard as claimed in claim 5 in which the membrane is sheet rubber.
 9. A dust guard as claimed in claim 5 in which the stitching is nylon. 